Impressionistic Images
by Singing Violin
Summary: This is a reflection of the main story in a rippled pool, seen through the lens of the author's perception and desires for the characters' future.


Title: Impressionistic Images  
Author: Singing Violin  
Rating: K+  
Keywords: M/S, imagery  
Spoilers: Seasons 1-9.  
Summary: This is a reflection of the main story in a rippled pool, seen through the lens of the author's perception and desires for the characters' future.  
Disclaimer: None of the characters discussed herein belong to me. Yet I love them, and I shall have them, if it be only for a little while.  
Archiving: Already archived in Gossamer under a different author name (Pearl) but that name was taken here so I got another one. Feel free to post anywhere.

A man, with frazzled hair and a haunted look in his eye, drags a cross behind him as he listlessly pounds his way across the varied terrain. Emblazoned on a plaque attached to the cross is the image of a little girl, with braids and a smile; she was his sister.

On the hilltop overlooking the scene, several old men huddle in conversation. One of them smokes a cigarette, and has a calm, confident air about him, while the others look anxious.

Suddenly, from the midst of the huddle emerges a young woman, with a determination in her face. The man with the cigarette and a compatriot with a balding head and wire glasses push her forwards. She runs, nearly falling, down the hill towards the tragic male figure. She is scared, but with a youthful determination, she looks back up towards the old men with rebellion in her face. Her red hair and freckles make her look young and vulnerable, but her body language speaks to a responsibility and competence she is eager to defend. She is tough as nails, and willing to prove as much.

The troubled man believes this girl is sent to undo him, and he gives her a pointed glare that is meant to dissuade her from venturing any closer. Yet she continues towards him, intrigued and unafraid.

No words are spoken between the two young adults, but with a glance that seems to share more than any words could, he somehow manages to communicate with her. Her answering gaze is not pity, as he expects, but understanding. Quietly, she draws up beside him and takes up part of his burden, tacitly promising to help him carry it as long as necessary.

As they journey together, she bears more and more of the weight. Once, she trips and falls into quicksand, and it is all he can manage to drop his load for a moment whilst he fishes her out of the ground before it can swallow her. He believes he is retrieving her because he is unable to finish his task alone, fatigued and worn from so much done alone before she arrived. However, there is something more that adds a passion to his pursuit, but whether or not she notices it, she does not indicate.

Once or twice, he looks back upon the effigy of his lost sibling, and she attempts to draw back his gaze so that they may continue on their way. She even tries to detach the plaque, but it is not so easily removed. Eventually, the woman is resigned to accept what they carry, and to share his attention with a persistent memory.

From then on, they are equal partners, each bearing half of the weight, until their path is, once again, blocked by the mysterious elders. They have brought another cross, and it is hers alone.

It becomes clear that it is too heavy for her, and only a few steps further along, she stops to rest, which is not allowed. She is suddenly surrounded, and nailed to her crucifix, and the metal is raised.

At first the man, preoccupied with his own burden, newly again his alone, does not notice what has happened to his companion. Even when he looks up and sees what has happened to her, he turns away in disbelief.

She attempts not to show pain as the nails dig into her flesh and blood trickles down from her wounds. Only a few tears escape her eyes, and only when he is facing away. Finally, he summons the courage to face her, and he realizes that she is close to death, almost passed out already.

He begins to cry, dropping his cross and racing towards her. She is unconscious. He kneels down before her cross, his tears soaking the ground below her, and he cries out for them to take him instead.

Soon he is bound next to her on his own cross. The pain is nearly unbearable, and he marvels that she has survived so long. He sees her soul emerge from her body and float towards him, meaning to undo his bonds and release him, but unable because that part of her which is free is not of corporeal form, and cannot manipulate matter. Is he hallucinating from the pain as he sees her translucent form smiling at him and telling him without words that he can be free?

Their bodies still on the crosses, and the bald man with glasses steps forward, looking back towards the elders. He is telling them to go home, that it is over. When they do not leave, he singles out the one who is smoking and removes the cigarette, crushing it on the ground beneath his feet.

The cigarette-smoking one is taken by surprise and felled by several unexpected blows. The others carry him away without ceremony, and the bald one with glasses is left alone with the two seemingly dead bodies. Carefully he removes them from their perches, first the woman, then the man.

He lays the bodies at his feet, ready to dig their graves, when the man stirs, and reaches out towards the woman. He clasps her hand, and as if by magic, their strength begins to return and their wounds begin to heal.

The crosses now fall, the metal collapsing into pieces. Only one small piece, including a bit of the plaque with the little girl, remains with the pair as they begin to walk again towards the horizon.

At first she is weak, and once she is struck down, and needs rescuing. He carries her to a cave, where the bald man barricades them so that they may not leave.

However, chaos ensues outside the shelter, and the noises draw the couple back to the edge, where they sneak out, drawing a path through a crowd of onlookers. They are heroes now, but they must continue on their journey, so they leave their admirers behind.

Suddenly the male figure stops to bury the last piece of his cross, and shortly afterwards vanishes completely. Realizing that she is now alone, the female looks panicked for the first time, and, careless, falls into a ditch. We will soon discover that it is not just his absence that is troubling her. As she slowly climbs up out of the trap, we realize that she is changed, but how we are not yet certain.

A new male figure appears by her side, supporting her as she struggles along, but she is wary of his attendance. They come across the body of her original companion, and it is all the new man can do to prevent her from flinging herself upon his corpse and laying there until she too has suffered his fate.

Then it is clear what has changed about her, as she slowly grows large with child as she moves forward. She does not let her new companion touch her belly, but she takes the arm that he offers her.

Then, as if by a miracle, the dead body rises, and races forward to stand before the couple. Quickly, she unclasps her arm from that of the one who was guiding her, and runs towards her resurrected martyr. But he is uncertain with the new shape of her body, and draws back even as she attempts to embrace him.

Time passes quickly, and soon the woman is in labor with the unborn child. Neither male companion accompanies her to a new cave where she gives birth to her baby.

The man who died is at her side shortly afterward, however, as the newer acquaintance waits at the entrance. She offers the infant to the man who stands in front of her, and in response, he smiles and kisses her, expressing the love which has lay dormant between the two since she was first thrust towards him on the hill.

She does not want to lose him again, and yet she feels that in order to ensure this, she must send him to safety. Thus, she beckons him towards the unknown tunnels of the caves, and reluctantly, he obeys her wishes, leaving the child with its mother.

The woman emerges at the entrance with the baby in her arms, and rejoins the other man's side. He questions her with a look, but she only shakes her head noncommittally. They walk towards the horizon, side by side, though never touching, and every so often she looks back towards where she left the father of her child.

Soon their paths will diverge, and she and her offspring will return to the rest of their family, while he continues walking this path with a new companion, a young, eager woman who cares deeply for him and knows the way better than he, so that she may guide him along.

She may even notice the small cross which this man bears, and the plaque upon it which bears the image of a small boy, who was his son.

Meanwhile, the original journeyman and journeywoman, free from their burdens at last, will join hands and hearts and be married in the open temple of the sky above the expansive earth, and hereafter will raise their child unmolested by the unforgiving and evil world which has so abused them in their past. And if, by chance, evil should approach them again, the new man and woman will drive it away before it can cause any harm.

**END**


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